The Salsette

Post date: Jan 17, 2011 11:40:37 PM

History in brief

Badged as the Best Wreck Dive in Britain, the P&O liner Salsette lies 44m deep in Lyme Bay. The wreck is big at 134m long and relatively deep at 34m to the starboard railing and 44m to the seabed.

Torpedoed by UB-40 on 20 July, 1917, the Salsette might have been just another of many wartime shipwrecks off Britain's southern shores, but since it was first dived in the early 1970s, a plethora of portholes and other non-ferrous fittings have made the Salsette the Mecca of South Coast wreck-diving.

The Salsette once held the coveted Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic and is listed as having eight cylinders of quadruple expansion engine, presumably four cylinders for each shaft, so there is a fair amount of boiler and engine machinery below decks.

The Dive

Scimitar Diving’s boat Cutlass, skippered by owner ‘Smudge’ was our chosen operator this time and as always, vessel and crew performed faultlessly. The thing we like about Smudge and his outfit is that he offers a relaxed approach when diving on his boats.

We were lucky enough to dive the Salsette on two occasions this session (2010), firstly in May and then in July. May’s dive was a little disappointing due to the low vis, conditions. Unfortunately an algae bloom was hanging at about 20m, vastly reducing the amount of natural light that could penetrate to 40m+. Though the vis, on the wreck was about 4-6m, it was totally dark, so all we could see was what our torches lit up. In Keith’s case this wasn’t a lot as his ‘oldy worldy’ candle powered lantern has had its day!

July’s dive saw much improved conditions and without any evidence of an algae bloom, there was better light penetration – All good. With all members of our group on twin’s and deco cylinders, we were aiming for

about a 1 hour dive time, giving us a good 30 minutes on the wreck.

With the Salsette being over 130m long, you soon realize that one dive just wouldn’t be enough to see its entire length. We did however manage to see a good proportion of the wreck. I would have to say, to see all of this wreck in detail, the two dives we’ve this done season just weren’t enough.

Once on site, Smudge and his crew drop the shot around the middle of the wreck and waiting a short time for slack, we kitted up and jump in. Descending down the line it was obvious that there was far more light and slightly better vis that our previous visit. I recon vis was about 6-8mtrs this time, making a welcome change from the usual 1-3mtrs we experience at good old Stoney Cove!!

Keith & I decided to go aft when we got to the wreck. We were soon finning over some fairly large holes in the main deck but decided not to go in to the wreck on this dive. Looking inside the rearward holes, I reckon the engines and boilers would have been in there, judging by what appeared to hand rails and walkways descending into the dark depths to the hole.

Carrying on aft, we soon came across an area of devastation caused by the torpedo impact, I presume. At this point we ascended towards the top of the wreck and followed what looked liked partially intact hand rails. Heading forward now, we came across a capstan, at which point we must have been near the shot but carried on forward for a while longer. It was good to see an abundance of fish life as well as spotting a number of large crabs, I think it made the wreck look alive.

Having now racked up 35 mins, bottom time it was time to deploy a DSMB and head for the surface. By the time we’d got to 6m, a total of 28 minutes deco was showing on my computer. 28 minutes of looking at Keith, well worth the price!

We surfaced after a total dive of 77 minutes. A thoroughly enjoyable dive and can’t wait to do it again, hopefully with even better vis and even better light.

The cruise back was made all the more enjoyable because the lovely mug of hot chocolate was accompanied by chocolate biscuits, all courtesy of Scimitar diving.